Features

Men's B-Ball Releases Schedule

Written by Jason Behenna

August 3, 2012

The Seattle University men's basketball program has released its schedule for the 2012-13 season, highlighted by a home game against crosstown rival Washington and the first year of competition within the Western Athletic Conference.

After an exhibition game against Evergreen State Wednesday, Nov. 7, the Redhawks will open the regular season at KeyArena at Seattle Center against Montana State Sunday, Nov. 11. Seattle U has defeated the Bobcats in each of the last two seasons.

Seattle U will make the cross country trip to Charlottesville, Va., to face the Virginia Cavaliers Saturday, Nov. 17. The Redhawks earned a 59-53 victory at Virginia Dec. 22, 2010, and scored the most points against Virginia's defense, second-best in the country during the 2011-12 campaign, in a hard-fought 83-77 Cavalier win at KeyArena Dec. 21, 2011.

The Redhawks host Pacific Lutheran the night before Thanksgiving, Wednesday, Nov. 21, before completing another three-game series with a contest at Stanford Wednesday, Nov. 28. Another non-conference road game for Seattle U takes place at Eastern Washington Monday, Dec. 10.

Seattle U begins a five-game homestand by welcoming the Huskies of Washington to KeyArena Thursday, Dec. 13. The Redhawks are looking for their first win over the Huskies since Nov. 28, 1978, coming close last season at Alaska Airlines Arena as they tied the game at 76-76 with 4:53 left in regulation before Washington pulled away with a 91-83 victory.

The homestand continues with games against Jackson State (Dec. 17), Northern Illinois (Dec. 19), and Campbell (Dec. 22). The contest against Northern Illinois is the return game from the BracketBuster matchup Feb. 19, 2011, won by the Redhawks in DeKalb, Ill., 60-48. Seattle U will be facing both Jackson State and Campbell for the first time ever.

After Christmas, Seattle U plays its first Division I conference game since March 1, 1980, hosting Idaho at KeyArena Saturday, Dec. 29. The Redhawks and the Vandals, travel partners within the WAC this season, have faced each other twice per year in each of the last three seasons.

The Redhawks begin the 2013 portion of the schedule with road games at Utah State (Jan. 3) and at San Jose State (Jan. 5) before returning home to face defending WAC Tournament champion New Mexico State (Jan. 10) and Denver (Jan. 12). Seattle U heads to UT Arlington (Jan. 17) and Louisiana Tech (Jan. 19) before concluding the first half of the conference season with KeyArena contests against UTSA (Jan. 24) and Texas State (Jan. 26).

San Jose State (Jan. 31) and Utah State (Feb. 2) come to Seattle for the start of the second half of the WAC schedule for the Redhawks, followed by road games at Denver (Feb. 7) and at New Mexico State (Feb. 9). The final conference home games of the season take place the next weekend against Louisiana Tech (Feb. 14) and UT Arlington (Feb. 16).

Seattle U hits the road with another trip to Texas, this time facing Texas State (Feb. 28) and UTSA (March 2). For the second straight season, the Redhawks will play a game at the ShoWare Center in Kent, hosting CSU Bakersfield Wednesday, March 6, before closing out the regular season at Idaho Saturday, March 9.

All 10 teams in the WAC will head to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., for the WAC Tournament March 12-16. Seattle U is eligible for the conference championship and the accompanying automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, which will commence the following week.

In total, Seattle U will play 11 games against teams that participated in one of the postseason tournaments last year. New Mexico State advanced to the NCAA Tournament, while Stanford, UT Arlington, and Washington all competed in the NIT. CSU Bakersfield, Idaho, and Utah State participated in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament last spring.

Season tickets are on sale by going to the Ticket section on GoSeattleU.com or by calling (206) 398-GOSU (4678). A five-game pack, featuring home games against Washington, New Mexico State, Texas State, Utah State, and UT Arlington, starts at just $55 and can also be ordered by calling the Seattle U Athletic Ticket Office at (206) 398-4678.

Tipoff times for this year's games are being finalized, as are arrangements for radio coverage of all games and television broadcasts of selected contests.